The US Just Took Out The Leader Of ISIS In Afghanistan For The Fourth Time

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Abu Sayeed Orakzai, the leader of the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, was killed in an airstrike carried out by NATO-led Operation Resolute Support personnel, U.S. and Afghan officials told NBC News on Sunday — the fourth time the “leader” of the hydra-like terror group’s Afghan offshoot has been snuffed in the last 18 months.

NBC News, August 26, 2018: “U.S. forces conducted a counter-terrorism strike in Nangarhar province targeting a senior leader of a terrorist group,” said a spokesperson for Operation Resolute Support, a NATO-led mission which trains and advises Afghan forces.”

The New York Times, April 9, 2018: “An American airstrike killed the leader of the Islamic State in northern Afghanistan, the latest in a series of crippling setbacks for the extremist organization in the country, according to American and Afghan officials on Monday.”

The New York Times, July 14, 2017: “The leader of the Islamic State’s branch in Afghanistan, Abu Sayed, was killed by an American drone strike this week, the Pentagon said on Friday. The strike, on Tuesday, targeted the militants’ headquarters in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.”

The New York Times, May 7, 2017: “The leader of the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan who orchestrated audacious attacks that further upended the country’s deteriorating security situation was killed in a special forces raid last month, the president of Afghanistan said in a statement on Sunday.”

Jared Keller is a senior editor at Task & Purpose. A contributing editor at Pacific Standard magazine, he has previously worked for The Atlantic, Bloomberg Digital, Al Jazeera America, and Maxim.
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